Round balers are used to produce bales from stalk-shaped agricultural harvested produce. Such round balers have a bale-forming chamber and associated pressing means. After completion and optional wrapping of a bale with mesh, twine, or film, this bale is ejected out the back of the bale-forming chamber. The bale then rolls on an unloading ramp out of the bale-forming chamber downward onto the ground.
Common unloading ramps include an elongated carrier that is constructed as a welded assembly and is hinged on the housing or chassis of the round baler so that it can pivot about a horizontal axis running perpendicular to the forward direction of the round baler and is pre-tensioned upward by spring force (cf. DE 102 54 954 A1 or EP 0 288 600 A1). If the bale is ejected, the carrier moves downward against the force of the spring. In addition, multiple shock absorbers are provided to damp the vibrations of the unloading ramp when it impacts the ground or after its return into the upper rest position after discharging the bale.
Previous rigid unloading ramps are relatively complicated (expensive) and heavy. There is also the risk that the unloading ramp and optionally other components of the baler could become damaged if the unloading ramp impacts against an obstacle in its rest position, for example, while driving in reverse. Furthermore, the contact surface between a non-cylindrical (barrel-shaped) bale and the unloading ramp is relatively small, which leads to high local contact forces of the bale on the unloading ramp, which can in turn lead to damage to the wrapping material and partial or total breaking apart of the bale. Finally, the case can occur that the rigid unloading ramp contacts the ground only at a few points if the ground is uneven, which leads to stresses in the unloading ramp that can result in material fatigue.